Honeywell's net profits drop by 53 percent
Diversified manufacturer and defense contractor Honeywell International Inc. on Tuesday posted a 53 percent drop in fourth-quarter profits after charges for a legal settlement and the loss of a jet engine contract.
Even excluding special items, profits fell 21 percent as the company's aerospace operations suffered under the weight of a financial crisis in the airline industry.
Honeywell, whose products range from aircraft electronics to home security systems, reported fourth-quarter net income of $118 million, or 14 cents per share, down from $254 million, or 32 cents per share, a year earlier.
Honeywell has an avionics plant in Lawrence.
Economy: Consumer confidence, factory orders rise
Consumer confidence strengthened for the second straight month in January and orders to U.S. factories for durable goods climbed more than expected, two economic reports said Tuesday, suggesting that an end to the U.S. economic slump may be in sight.
The Conference Board, a New York-based industry group, reported its Consumer Confidence Index rose to 97.3 this month from a revised 94.6 in December. Analysts were expecting a reading of 96.
The Commerce Department announced earlier in the day that orders to U.S. factories for durable goods items expected to last three years rose a larger-than-expected 2 percent in December. The gain surpassed analysts' expectations for a 1.5 percent increase.
Pharmaceuticals: Merck to spin off pharmacy benefits unit
Drug giant Merck announced plans Tuesday to make its Merck-Medco pharmacy benefits management subsidiary a separate, publicly traded company later this year.
Merck officials plan to conduct an initial public offering for a portion of Merck-Medco stock during the summer, subject to market conditions. A decision about how to distribute remaining shares has not been made.
Merck-Medco provides care for more than 65 million people and manages more than 537 million prescriptions a year.
Earnings: UPS delivers upbeat results for quarter
A surge of holiday shipping helped United Parcel Service Inc. beat Wall Street forecasts, but net income still dropped 11 percent as the U.S. recession battered business, the company said Tuesday.
Atlanta-based UPS said fourth-quarter net income was $645 million, or 57 cents a share 7 cents more than the consensus forecast of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First Call. The results included $37 million from taxpayers as part of the Sept. 11 bailout package from Congress to help the nation's airlines.
In the same period last year, UPS earned $724 million or 63 cents per share.
Agriculture: Kansas Farm Bureau offers new 'solutions'
After decades as a farm advocacy group, the Kansas Farm Bureau has launched an initiative to more directly increase the financial bottom line of individual farmers.
The group has hired David Spears, a former commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, to lead the "Agriculture Solutions" effort.
Farm Bureau hopes to provide farmers more services to help them earn additional income, Spears said. The effort will help farmers with risk management, collective bargaining efforts, weather derivative products and commodity exports.
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